If your car air conditioner isn’t blowing cold air, you keep having to regas the refrigerant and you’ve noticed an oily or wet-looking spot around the unit, there’s a good chance the evaporator coil is leaking.

Refrigerant leaks often leave behind an oily residue because the refrigerant carries a small amount of oil with it. When that oil escapes, it sticks to dust and creates a dirty, greasy patch—one of the clearest signs of a leak.

A leaking evaporator coil also causes:

• Weak or warm airflow
• Longer cooling cycles
• Ice forming on the coil or lines
• Frequent refrigerant loss

Regasing the system helps for a short time, but the refrigerant will leak back out, and the AC can’t cool properly until the leak is repaired. In many cases, the long-term fix is repairing or replacing the evaporator coil, depending on the severity of the damage.

At Marks Mechanics in Garbutt, we’ve seen firsthand how these leaks impact vehicle performance. For example, we recently repaired a 2012 Nissan X-Trail with clear signs of an evaporator leak and the customer approved replacing the evaporator.

Fixing an evaporator leak in most vehicles is a major job because the evaporator is buried deep inside the dashboard. In many cars, repairing it requires removing most or all of the dash, disconnecting wiring, opening the AC box, and reassembling everything afterward. It’s one of the most labour-intensive AC repairs a vehicle can need.

While it’s a big job, repairing it properly is important — continuing to drive with a leaking evaporator can lead to repeated regas costs and potential compressor damage.

If you’re seeing these signs, it’s worth getting it inspected before the leak gets worse. Contact Marks Mechanics in Garbutt today for expert AC repair services. With our extensive experience and dedication to quality work, we’ll help you get back to driving comfortably.